Killer
by Snivellus Tobias Snape
Summary: Everyone has secrets, especially John Casey. What he does in his leisure time is classified information! Casey & Awesome friendship fic


In hindsight, he probably should have been doing it in the privacy of his own home. But with Bartowski and Sarah always barging in as though his home was a smaller scale Castle, Casey didn't get that much privacy at home.

He'd caught Morgan doing it at the Buy More on an extremely slow day. He'd said, without the slightest hint of embarrassment, "Come on, John, every guy does it." And Casey had said proudly, with a hint of superiority, "I never have."

And in hindsight, he should have never accepted an invitation from Captain Awesome for a guy's night in. Ellie was working overnight and Chuck and Sarah were doing...whatever they did whenever Casey didn't get invited. Probably something lame like dinner and dancing, to "protect the cover" as they were so fond of doing lately. They probably went out on "protect the cover" dates three times a week now and Casey was left at home to his own devices.

Which is how Casey, bored out of his mind, accepted Awesome's invitation.

"Hey!" Devon said, throwing the door open and slinging an arm around Casey as though he was an old college buddy. "Glad you could come!"

A guy wearing a ratty college t-shirt called out, "Hey, man!"

Devon poured Casey a drink and went around the room introducing everyone. "This is Scrat, my roommate from college...and D-Block from work...and Skidmore from my fraternity.."

It sounded a little anticlimactic when Awesome said to the room, "And this is John."

Casey nodded and tossed back a whiskey. It had been a while since he'd felt so out of his element. It normally happened when he had to be himself instead of a cover-version of himself. No wonder Sarah enjoyed "cover dates" so much.

Feeling uncomfortable and slightly overdressed in his black button-down, he wandered over to the bar and poured himself another drink.

"Hey, buddy," the guy called Scrat said, clapping him on the back. Casey winced at the sudden contact. "So you and Awesome are neighbors?"

Casey nodded curtly, trying to relax, trying to act friendly, trying to not look like he cared that no one knew him or gave him a nickname in college. He realized Scrat was waiting for something more and said awkwardly, "So, Scrat, what do you do for work?"

"I'm a lowly MD," Scrat said. "But I don't mind. I get regular hours and more time off than the surgeons." He gestured to the other guys. "What do you do, John?"

Casey desperately wanted to say he was a Marine, a colonel, or even that he worked in a high-level government job. Instead, he grunted, "I work at the Buy More."

"Cool, man," Scrat said. "Wow. That's great."

Casey cringed at the false enthusiasm in his words. "Yeah," he said, gritting his teeth. "I'm living the dream."

"You do what you can to provide for your family, right?" Scrat said, then excused himself before Casey could mention that he lived in a bachelor pad.

"John!" Devon materialized out of thin air and poured himself a drink, a huge smile on his face. "Having fun?"

Casey swallowed the whiskey. "I think I'm going to call it a night. I have to work early tomorrow morning. Inventory, you know."

"You should stay," Awesome said, pulling Casey back into the tight circle of guys. "We're bringing out PS2 in a minute. As soon as Scrat gets drunk enough, he's doing vocals on Rock Band."

"Rock Band." Casey said it as though it was a curse word. "I don't think so."

Awesome just laughed. Somehow—Casey had no idea how it happened, but he figured alcohol was to blame—Scrat called out, "We need someone on drums!" and the room grew quiet and Casey said in the sudden silence, "I'll do it."

"Yeah, man!" Scrat said. He held the microphone to his mouth and shouted, "Scrat the Rat on vocals, Devon the Awesome on bass, D-Block on guitar and....Killer on the drums!"

Casey smiled and crossed the drumsticks above his head. Secretly, he liked being part of this weird little group of nerdy doctors and surgeons who were once frat brothers. He would never admit to Bartowski, but deep down inside, Casey had a nerd soul.

"Suck my kiiiiis!" Scrat wailed into the microphone. Casey hammered the drumsticks against the springy rubber, feeling power pulse through his body as though he was drumming away at a rock concert. His head bobbed in reaction to the music. Caught up in the music, the power surged through him and he let out a rock-star yell.

"Yeah!" Awesome shouted, high-fiving all the guys. He threw his arms around Casey who, in an unexplainable moment of human-ness, hugged him back.

"That was amazing, Killer!" Scrat yelled.

That should have been enough for him to learn his lesson. But he couldn't stop thinking about how amazing that had felt. It combined his childhood dream of becoming a rockstar and his current dream of being part of a "brotherhood." It gave him an escape from the drudgery of his reality to be "Killer" instead of an assassin.

So one week later found him in the media room at the Buy More, his heart pounding anxiously, the blinds drawn tight. He turned the sound down as low as possible so no one could hear, strapped the guitar over his shoulders, and rocked out. His head automatically bobbed to the music. He hummed along, hitting every note perfectly, feeling the music in his soul. The song ended and he hit the whammy bar and leaned his head back as the distorted sound swirled around him in the room.

"Woo!"

Casey's head whipped around. He'd recognize that nerdy little voice anywhere. Chuck and Sarah stood by the door, smiling.

"Great job, Casey," Sarah said sweetly, only the gleam in her eyes displaying that she would tease Casey mercilessly later.

Embarrassed, Casey stalked back to the couch and sat down. Chuck and Sarah followed.

"Buddy!" Chuck said, a huge grin on his face. "I didn't know you had any nerd in you."

Casey grunted and swigged some water, trying to come up with an adequate excuse for being caught playing Rock Band. He couldn't tell them that he'd done this before. "I just saw it in here and wanted to see what all the fuss was about."

"You should have done vocals," Sarah said calmly, loving this. "Since you were a choir boy and all."

"It was a one time thing!" Casey insisted. "I was just trying it so I could understand the moron customers better. It was lame."

Casey's heart pounded as he headed for the door. It wasn't as though his cover had been blown or anything. Chuck and Sarah didn't know about Awesome's party the other night, when he'd first dabbled in Rock Band and whacked at rubber pads like he was some big shot rock star. Thank goodness they didn't know that! He could feel his cheeks turning red.

"That's not what Awesome said," came Chuck's voice from behind him, "..._Killer_."


End file.
